This blog assignment #8, it is about my experiences during this Coronavirus crisis. One morning I woke up like every other day, I am not a news person so that is why I went to work without knowing anything. At noon, my boss got everybody together for a meeting and talked about the “Corona virus Covid-19”. At that moment I was not scared at all. I thought It was going to be like every other virus where it is all over the news for a week and then disappears. I remember we were told about the quantity of masks we have available and how strict we must be with the use of them. I said out loud to my boss, “ if we run out of masks, we can make some here at work." Everybody laughed, and I became kind of embarrassed because I thought it was the worst idea and asked why I have to think out loud? The days passed, and every day we had a new rule at work with this virus. Every Friday I get my work schedule for the following week. It could be as crazy as 3:00pm to 11:00pm, or just a four-hour shift either morning or evening. After all, I like being in a different hospital helping and getting to know more people. On the other hand, I went to my psychology class one Wednesday night without knowing it was going to be the last time in a classroom. I did a presentation; I was so scared of it and I almost postponed it to the following week. Now, I am glad I did it that night. With this virus my life has changed from being so busy with school, work and my social life to a life where I don’t know when I am going to receive a call to go to work. I have felt less physical stress but am mentally exhausted. I have gone from a life where I used to see my husband for a couple hours a day to a life where I have found out our apartment is too small for the two of us. It was like when we first were married and were adapting to each other's habits. I have gotten to know exactly what he does all day, how many people he talks with a day and how hard and stressful his job is. He and his dad let me cut their hair for the first time since I met them. School was a big challenge for me because I took three classes. I have asked myself so many times if it was worth it or not to keep doing this. I have so many questions in my mind. Days keep passing and I have started becoming more stressed, and I have much more anxiety. I keep telling myself to calm down and enjoy the days. I have sat down so many times to do my homework, and found It has been hard to concentrate. I was kind of upset because I like face-to-face classes, and I have seeing myself doing something that I did not sign up for it which is frustrating. In the end, I have become used to it and I like it. I have tried to be on time for every class deadline. I have liked the way two of my professors have sent videos about the class, which has been really helpful. At home, I have been doing more cooking with my husband. We have been trying new recipes from Panama and from Tasty taste on Facebook. Of course, it looks so easy in those videos and when you do it, the story is different. My flan did not look any way close to the one in the video. Also, I made “arroz con leche” in Zoom with my family in Panama and Barcelona. It was a fun family time. I have enjoyed cooking step by step with my aunt and cousins. Talking about Zoom, I feel like I have a master’s degree in Zoom. I had no idea this app existed before the virus, yet suddenly everything is on Zoom. I did tutoring, I played games with my cousins and I even celebrated my mom’s birthday with my cousins using this app. The plan before the virus was for my mom to come here to visit me and spend her birthday with me for the first time since I have lived here, but of course, it was not possible. Because the Panama airport has been closed, there was no way to surprise her with a visit. In addition, this was the first Easter without the Easter bunny. It was different, but it did not stop us from practicing Holy Week. On Palm Sunday I went outside and grabbed a tree branch and hung it on my door. Finally, I have started working out, and I have liked it. I started a new challenge three days ago with the app, “mapmyrun”, from Under Armour. I will run 30 miles in 30 days before June 3rd. I am so proud of myself for being strict about it and taking care of myself like never before. I have been eating healthier food. I have stopped drinking milk and eating pork. I take walks everyday with my husband around the neighborhood and in the woods when we both get anxious from being at home. I am working out with my friends on Zoom or this website, “watchtogether”. I also dance on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights at 8:00 pm on Instagram with my dancer cousin who is a professional dancer in Panama. I invite you to join us and "suda la salsa". All these activities have made me be more in contact with my family and friends, and I am loving it. I really do not want our frequent communication to go away after this quarantine. I listen to Sunday mass through an app and do the rosary, as well, every night with people from church in this app. I have opened a puzzle on a table in the guest room to distract myself from stress. I have not finished it, yet I hope I can finish it soon. The floor, carpet, clothes, and dishes are competing to see who gets dirtier every day. We have gone from giving hugs and kisses to saying "hi" 6 feet away from each other, and the closest you can get is to do an elbow bump. Going to the grocery store used to be fun for me and my husband, but now we have to make sure we wear a mask and go at a time that there are not a lot of people because you can easily spend almost 35 minutes in line at Giant. Everybody walks away from you and becomes annoyed if you are taking your time to pick out a product in the aisle. Even worse, they have marked signs on the floor in every aisle at the store saying one way. Therefore, online shopping has become the way to shop and be safe in these days. Every day I try to get up and dedicate time to my appearance even if I do not have to go to work by putting on my perfume, and painting my nails. The only thing I have not done is to cut my hair myself. My husband and I have spent more time together, and now since this virus when we go out, we ask each other, “Do you have the keys, the cellphone and your mask?” During this time, It has been beautiful to see how the community thanks the First Responders for their work. Starting with watching the Blue Angels flying overhead. At work we get food trucks from local pizza places or restaurants delivering food to us. We have free Wawa coffee and tea in the cafeteria. The hospital plays the Rocky song every time someone with Covid-19 is discharged. When you are working and hear that music, you feel proud and happy for that person. Last but not least, one day at my workplace there were police officers and firefighters clapping for the First Responders who were finishing and starting their shifts around 7:00 pm. I had the opportunity to walk past them, and I have no words to express the feeling I had at that moment. I am sharing below pictures and videos about this blog. In the end with this virus, not everything was terrible. I have learned a lot and have changed as a person. Video of First Responders in the news.
1 Comment
Sabatino
5/12/2020 11:50:10 am
I really enjoyed reading this post -- especially because you demonstrate what a multimodal blog post can look like and how you have grown as a blogger in this course.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Lourdes Seaver
|